the other day, i parked my car and then went back out to start it about 15 minutes later...stone-dead, not even a click. i was at work, so i went ahead and waited until i got off to mess with it again (i had an inkling that maybe the starter was just locked up from header heat). ~7 hours later, same thing. ended up trying to jump it, and it started right up off a coworkers 80's hondas at idle. i drove the ~5 minutes to home, and when i got in the car the next day, it started right up. which leads me of course to think the battery was never really dead...so why did jumping it help? any ideas what happened?
Check your connections at the battery and also at the cable ends. Sounds to me like a corrosion issue, assuming the battery is OK.
Go through the whole starting system... Voltage regulator, alt, battery...etc. My LeSabre acted up like this a long time ago, and it ended up a bad regulator.o No: But it does sound like a connection is loose or something. Check the ground to your block.
hmmm, this almost reminds me of when my grounding strap broke. the car ran a little funny, and the headlights would cut out at night for no obvious reason. Turned out that one tranny line was touching the block and the other was touching the frame, and they touched each otther, too- most of the time! When they didn't, I lost power. I also used to have a battery cable that looked fine but for some reason had a lousy end. It was a new cable, onlt a few weeks old. I got mad enough to chop off the cable end and put a new one on- car started every time. Electricity can drive you nuts.
do you have headers. if so, the heat may cuase your solonoid to be getting too hot cuasing the resistance to go up way to much for your battery. The reason it works when youre jumped is becuase when you hook battereis in parallel, you get double the amps, which is enough to jolt your starter to turn over, but without that, your battery along isn't strong enough for some reason. I am gonna say starter solenoid is going out. and if you ever think about getting headers, make sure you put the heat plate over your soloniod to save on headaches. (or buy a mini $tarter) josh
.... I would say starter also....starter getting hot...or just drawing 2 much....if its getting hot ..check on a heat shield for that starter..
I used to have a starter selenoid that wouldn't work when it was hot. I would have to use the screwdriver trick to get it to start when hot.
ah, i guess that makes sense. i don't even have the heat shield anymore. how about header wrap? i've heard some bad things about holding all the heat in, should i avoid it? and by screwdriver trick, you mean crossing the terminals to get the starter to turn?
starter i had a 1981 cutlass supreme brougham with a 267 v8 . had same problem with the starter whwn the car was hot . starter would barely crank , but let it sit for awhile & it would work . solution - heat shield & rebuilt starter . heat destroys the starter's internals . so if u do not purchase a new starter, then be sure the starter has been completely rebuilt - new armature & field windings on the inside of the starter case !
just put the heat shield over the solonoid carefull with header wrap. I had a buddy who started his car on fire becuase of that junk.
Batteries can internally go bad. See if there may be some swelling in the center of the battery case. Bring a volt meter with you. Next time is dosen't start, check the voltage at the battery. You will probably find about 2V max if you battery is bad. If the battery still shows good, start looking for bad cable connection or a starter/cyl problem. When you jump you car, the motor runs on the alt. Once it's started, you can throw the battery over your sholder, don't need it until the next time you need to start it. Don't worry about the headers getting the starter cyl too hot, just make sure you use a HIGH QUALITY starter cyl.
